Whether you love it or hate it, there is no doubt that Activision’s Call of Duty Series redefined the first person shooter genre and set the bar for all other developers. With the introduction of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007, Activision took a step into a relatively untouched land and reaped all the rewards that came with it, winning multiple Game of the Year awards and embedding itself into the hearts of millions.
However, in recent years, the game’s creative direction has had many of us scratching our heads, as the series, once so close to our hearts, seemed to distance itself from what we wanted, sending our beloved game out into the far reaches of space. This left many die hard fans who craved a more authentic warfare feeling asking “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!?” This set many of its competitors in motion to chase down the hit series with EA’s Battlefield series becoming a front runner in the war for FPS domination.
Call of Duty very swiftly became the butt of every joke when the two behemoths went toe to toe in late 2016 and it wasn’t long before the memes rolled out to pick apart Activision’s flagship game. Whether you love it or hate it, here’s 15 CoD Memes which make us chuckle.
15 You Sure Captain?
Although games are a work of fiction, people do tend to mark some of them against the realism they should carry. Ultimately Call of Duty is a Warfare Simulator, placing you in the midst of action to fight an enemy, in the quest for victory. So when an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) is set off with the aim of disabling all electronics, it would seem very likely that your Captain would announce this through your characters wireless communication headsets….no? Yeah, you’re not fooling us either Call of Duty. We know science. Maybe our leader was a fan of the old string and plastic cup method? Although we’re not quite convinced that’s part of any army training schedule, it seems the only viable option at this point. Either way, it wasn’t long before the Call of Duty lynch mob picked up on this. I bet they wish they had an EMP for this meme right now.
14 Die By The Sword
We’ve all been there, on a losing streak, nothing’s going right for us. Death, after death, after death. Forget kill streaks, we’re on a death streak here. The screen flashes up red. You know its coming, that inevitable cycle of re-spawns, but behold, you’ve managed to tough it out, the slump may be coming to an end. Then you hear it….the slash. You stare at the screen in bewilderment, confusion, anger. You never see it coming, how did it happen, when did you let your guard down. Cue kill-cam. After withstanding a barrage of bullets to the head and body, you seem to have escaped unscathed, until you run into that prone camper who manages to end your life with one swift swipe to your left toe. It doesn’t make sense, life doesn’t work this way. This is Call of Duty, it makes its own rules, and you’d be lying if you said you had never laughed at another’s misery after delivering that fatal blow.
13 Bad Dog
“And I would’ve gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for those meddling kids and their stinking dog” - Every bad guy ever in Scooby Doo.
During the more recent instalments of Activision’s franchise, there has always been a lot to be said about the majority age group of CoD players. It seems to me that people are always complaining about playing against immature kids. This could be down to older fans of the series who struggle with the complexity and pace of the newer games or it could genuinely be the case as the games popularity pushes new boundaries and naturally we all grow older and younger fans begin to play the game. Needless to say, this meme sums up those feelings completely and who doesn’t enjoy a cheeky glitch to help show that, I know I do. When Call of Duty first introduced their Killer K9’s to reward a 7 kill streak in World at War, they were a force to be reckoned with and having them unleashed on you meant certain death regardless of how many you put down to try and escape.
12 Old Is Gold
Entering into 2016, there had yet to be a standout Call of Duty title which truly engaged fans of all generations. A large majority of its fan base begged for the next instalment of CoD to be a boots on the ground affair, i.e no exosuits, no flying 200 ft in the air and certainly no wall running. However, Activision’s audience cries seemed to have fallen on deaf ears when it was announced that their new release would be set……in space. Little did we know they had an ace up their sleeve with the remaster of what many people regarded as their best title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which was available upon purchase of the Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition. What a way to push sales guys, we’re on to you.
After learning this, many gamer’s, myself included, were happy to voice their opinions about only buying Infinite Warfare for the Modern Warfare Remaster. So after stumbling across this gem of a meme, I couldn’t help but laugh and nod in agreement. Let’s be honest, we were all thinking it.
11 Chopper Inbound
When I came across this meme, I choked with laughter. I think I speak for all when I wonder how on earth this whackey hairstyle came about. If someone didn’t shout “Chopper inbound,” then it was the biggest missed opportunity ever! Remember the days of the simple kill streak rewards? 3 for a UAV, 5 got you an Air strike and the ultimate prize for 7 was the chopper. It was almost unstoppable back in the day, when the other team landed a chopper kill streak, as you could do nothing but hide and pray - pretty much what anyone with that haircut should be doing. Let’s hope she’ll have an updated version for us in the future, as we would love to see a B2 Spirit Carpet Bomber edition.Either way, let’s give her hairdresser a thumbs up for creativity and a big thumbs down for execution.
10 Why Always Me?
Unbalanced team matching in Call of Duty is something we can all relate to at times, and this sums it up perfectly. Ask yourself how many times you have had to carry a team only to lose and check the scoreboard to find several teammates with ridiculously negative kill-death ratios? Men vs Boys doesn’t really cut it in this situation. Then you start to question why? Why was I placed in a team of Nerf gun wielding failures? Am I really on par with these lot? Unfortunately, it’s a harsh reality we have to accept sometimes and by accept, I mean leave the lobby and try again, only to be thrown back into the same situation. Don’t be that guy! Show ’em how it’s done. Or simply rage quit. One thing is clear, unbalanced teams are not a thing of the past and they wont go away.
9 Good Guy Objective Player
We all need that one player right? The player who isn’t just out for personal gain, but actually tries to help the team to achieve the objective needed to win the game. Maybe you are that player? If you are, we salute you! So often you enter into Domination or Search and Destroy game lobbies and see your team lose just because people care more about their kills and deaths when they’re of secondary importance in these game modes. It really makes you wonder why they even bother, when you obviously gain more XP from actually playing the objective ….DUH! It has you screaming GO TO TEAM DEATHMATCH at the screen when you’re bottom ranked player has 65 kills but no captures. They ruin the experience and are pretty much just idiots! So when you find that guy who actually plays the objective, appreciate them. They’re like a good steak. They only come round once in a while.
8 Hide and Seek
When we think of army clothing, the first thing that comes to mind is typically camouflage! You do not want to be seen. If you get seen, you’re a target and then, before you know it, it’s game over. So, it was only right for the Call of Duty to incorporate different usable camo into its games. It really did make a nice addition to your character and guns while keeping you discreet. As the series progressed, the whole idea of discreet camouflage seemed to go right out the window, with paint jobs for your gear to bright green and neon pink clothing. They even had great gold armour! The whole meaning behind camo became pointless, as you stuck out like a peacock amongst pigeons. In fact, this meme accurately sums it up and made me chuckle as I thought back to some of the more colourful characters I’d seen while playing Black Ops 3 in particular. Even though, it can be pretty cool at times and some of the custom paint jobs are out of this world, this is still war. Not London fashion week!
7 Love Is In The Air
Without a shadow of a doubt, two of the most adored characters from the Call of Duty series were brought together in the Modern Warfare instalment. Soap MacTavish being the playable character throughout the game and the legendary Captain Price, who has appeared in four games in the series. The SAS’s finest. For many of us, the statement intended in this meme stands true as Price becomes somewhat of a lovable authority figure. He may seem harsh and brash at times, but Soap is one of his men and that bond lasts for life. That’s a lot more than can be said for Twilight main squeeze Bella, who can’t seem to make her mind up between one monster or the other. At least we know where Captain Price’s loyalties lie and our loyalties as well.
6 Damn Cyborg
Exo suits continue to divide opinions in the more recent Call of Duty games. Are they cool? Yes. Do we like using them? We do. Do we like having them forced down our throats? No. No thank you. It seems that the characters are becoming less and less human in the games these days, with cyborg-like technology being introduced into our characters bodies. Despite the incredible capabilities of these suits, they have their limitations. The only problems with these limitations are….they don’t make sense. As the meme states, something so powerful, and with robot legs, has a limited sprint. We understand that it makes the game fairer to have it on a level platform, but come on guys, didn’t you learn from the EMP. We aren’t gonna let this go.
5 You Against The World
During a Single Player campaign, you know you are the man and it’s all on you to progress. You know the objective, you’ve got your targets, you’re in your element, as an unstoppable force of nature and the bringer of death to all computer controlled enemies. It’s not so different from a Team Deathmatch, except that you share the responsibility with your squad. You win together, you lose together, but ultimately you go into a lobby thinking…“yeah guys, we got this.” On the other hand, if you lose, it’s always easy to blame it on someone else.
Enter Deathmatch mode, also known as Free For All. This is when it gets serious, as everybody is out to get you, as is so well depicted by one Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of The Caribbean. You begin, die, respawn, die. This game mode can be relentless and to those who succeed well…we hate you, because it means you most definitely killed us! There is no escape, so pick up your weapon and RUN, RUN, RUN!
4 Connection Interrupted
Never has there been a more relevant meme. Looking back to the earlier days of Call of Duty, this was one of the most infuriating things that could happen. Forget quick scopers, forget Spawn killers, campers could even be forgiven. But an interrupted connection was the biggest stab in the back the Call of Duty servers could give us! On top of that, the lack of a host migration ability meant that game lobbies constantly closed mid game, especially when the host was on the receiving end of a few Barrett 50 cal bullets to the head. BOOM, head shot! On a streak, Oh what’s this, the host has left game? ….great. To make things worse, this did always seem to happen when you managed to get yourself on that rare kill streak. Luckily for us, the lovely guys at Activision did introduce host migration and steadier game lobbies. Well done guys, you did good this time.
3 MMM Braaaains
Call of Duty’s decision to introduce Zombies into its games was nothing short of brilliant, bringing an exciting fear factor to the game, while also increasing user experiences with a completely different game mode. They always start off slow and easy, so you gain a sense of security and comfort. With each growing wave, it gets harder, but you upgrade your guns and you put those zombies back in the ground! You get your first down, but your teammates are capable enough to revive you, so you’re holding it down. Rick Grimes has nothing on you. Then you go down again, and again, then your teammate hits the deck and before you realize it, this simple zombie killing free for all becomes a war with a horde of the undead that, like the meme says, you don’t win. However, you just can’t resist trying to go one better to become the epic zombie slayer you were born to be!
2 Campers, Campers Everywhere
Among the FPS world, Call of Duty players seem to have gathered the worst reputation. With tags like immature, cheaters, and quick scopers, it’s not easy being a CoD fan at times. However, the main label that sticks out is campers! Now from experience within the game, it has to be said that there are campers. We all know someone that does it and while some deny it, some out right admit it. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about it, as it’s a frowned upon tactic because it does work. There are some instances where you cannot win with labels though. If you snipe and set up a good position, you’re a camper. If you run around with your sniper rifle, you’re a quick scoper. You cannot win. To all the campers out there, we understand. It’s part of the game, but just know that we disapprove.
1 The Ultimate Battle
It would not be a proper meme list without the most popular meme of 2016, concerning the release of Infinite Warfare which coincided with the release of Battlefield 1. With many people calling for a pre-modern warfare game for next gen, EA obliged with a step into The Great War itself with their acclaimed release of Battlefield 1, which was in complete contrast with Call of Duty’s space age release. This triggered many feelings of displeasure amongst their loyal fan base and it wasn’t long before people made their feelings known. This meme perfectly sums up the feeling that Battlefield 1 truly kicked Call of Duty to the curb this year. If this wasn’t an indicator that Activision needs to start listening to their audiences, then who knows what will get them to listen. You lost, give us what we want! Like the spoiled little gamers we are!
